Riverside County should not rely on stopgaps that merely push deficits into future years. A sluggish economy, slumping revenue and uncertainty over state funding demand fiscal caution. Supervisors should craft a budget for the next fiscal year that actually balances, instead of depending on one-time expedients.

County assessor Larry Ward last week said that the overall value of taxable property in the county will fall again this year, carving a new multimillion-dollar hole in county finances. Ward projected that the total assessed value of property in Riverside County would drop from $205 billion to about $200 billion — which translates to a drop of $9 million or more in county tax revenue. Property taxes account for about 80 percent of the county’s discretionary funding — the part of the budget controlled directly by supervisors.

The prospect of less tax money requires fiscal discipline from supervisors, as the county faces yet another in a series of annual budget shortfalls. Supervisors plugged an $80 million hole in the county’s current $652 million discretionary budget with $28 million in reserves and other one-time money — which left the shortfall to re-emerge next year. The county proposed to trim next fiscal year’s shortfall to about $13 million, through savings, budget cuts and other measures. Lower property tax collections will widen the gap once again.

The county’s experience offers clear evidence that temporary budget fixes are not a sustainable fiscal approach. Bridging deficits with one-time Band-Aids does not resolve the underlying issues, but merely pushes an honest reckoning into the future. And given the region’s anemic recovery from the economic downturn, revenue growth will not rescue county finances anytime soon.

The county also faces serious fiscal risks from the shift of state services to county government, known as realignment. The state this year gave counties responsibility for low-level felons, parolees and some other services, along with state money to cover the costs. The complex plan offers a host of challenges for the county: Riverside County lacked sufficient jail space even before realignment, for example. Handling an additional influx of inmates will require more jail capacity, and more guards to staff any jail expansion — both expensive propositions.

But the Legislature did not provide permanent money for the new county duties. Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed sales and income tax hike would give counties ongoing funding for those services — but what the state will do if that measure fails is not clear. Nor does anyone know yet whether the proposed funding would be enough to cover counties’ actual costs, even if the measure passes.

Such uncertainty does not argue for draining county reserves even further, or for other expedients that only temporarily hide budget gaps. The county’s finances will be challenging enough for the foreseeable future without letting red ink pool under the surface of budgets.

Temporizing in hopes of avoiding politically painful decisions is not a responsible course. County supervisors need to make sure the county’s finances are sustainable — not just for now, but for the future, as well.